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U‘.\v  York 


OPEN  LETTER 

to  the 

Editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune 

CHICAGO,  ILL. 


INDEPENDENCE  MONU3IENT  IN  MEXICO  CITY 
Built  with  millions  that  should  have  been  used  to  solve 
the  agrarian  problem. 


Dear  Sir: 

Allow  me  to  make  a  few  comments  on  your  last 
Sunday’s  (Oct.  15)  editorial,  in  which  you  assert  that 
Mexico  is  the  exposed  flank  of  the  United  States. 

The  belicose  attitute  which  a  large  number  of  pub¬ 
lications  in  the  United  States  have  assumed  is  based 
on  a  conception  of  the  Mexican  people  which  cannot 
be  more  incorrect. 

You  have  been  assuming  that  you  possess  conclu¬ 
sive  facts  on  Mexican  sociology,  as  derived  from  ob¬ 
servations  made  by  people  who  have  been  able  to 
study  certain  economic  phenomena,  certain  political 
features  that  have  been  evident  in  different  periods 
of  the  Mexican  history;  but  who  do  not  possess  the 
ability  to  understand  that  there  is  a  great  human 
cause  of  justice  in  the  endeavors  of  the  Mexican  mas¬ 
ses. 

You  speak,  with  more  frequency  than  is  necessary, 
of  the  wealth  which  foreigners  have  amassed  in  Mex¬ 
ican  soil,  and  you  concentrate  the  obligations  which 
this  nation  and  other  advanced  countries  of  the 
world  have  toward  Mexico,  in  the  single  fact  that 
such  nations  must  impose  their  authority  on  the 
Mexican  people,  and  compel  respect  towards  that 
wealth. 

The  pity  of  it  all  is  that  you  seem  to  firmly  believe 
that  such  doctrine  is  bound  to  succeed,  and  that 
sooner  or  later,  the  United  States  of  America  will 
dictate  to  Mexico  and  to  all  the  Latin- American 
race. 

You  seem  to  be  blind  to  the  gigantic  movement 
that  is  going  on  everywhere,  but  particularly  in 
Mexico,  against  the  long-lived  rule  of  “special  in¬ 
terests.” 


2 


And  the  more  you  think  of  the  military  power  of 
this  nation  imposing  itself  upon  Mexican  life,  the 
more  prejudiced  yon  become. 

There  is  no  other  interpretation  possible,  of  the 
ideas  yon  expound  and  support  in  the  Tribune, 
which  seem  the  chorus  part  of  the  tragic-comedy  of 
Hearstian  megalomania. 

Not  only  is  this  form  of  thought  wrong,  but  it  en¬ 
tails  the  perdition  of  America.  For  America  is  now 
tired  of  the  “iron”  hand  and  needs — Imore  urgently 
than  can  be  imagined — a  sane  current  of  under¬ 
standing  between  the  peoples  that  mhabit  this  con¬ 
tinent. 

The  CONQUEST  of  Mexico  is  an  impossible  nn- 
•  dertaking.  The  Mexican  people  have  been  tried  in 
this  hideous  experiment  of  CONQUEST,  time  after 
time;  but  all  of  the  conquerors  have  failed  miser¬ 
ably. 

Spain  employed  all  the  methods  that  could  be  de¬ 
vised,  and  applied  them  with  the  most  ingenious 
perversity.  But  they  failed.  The  Inquisition  failed. 
Idle  policy  of  the  “closed  door:”  the  policy  of  cate¬ 
chism,  that  of  paternalism,  and  of  hypocricy:  they 
all  failed. 

There  is  something  in  the  blood  of  the  Mexicans, 
whether  you  believe  it  or  not,  which  makes  them 
feel  with  the  utmost  certainty,  that  their  lands,  their 
endeavors,  their  loyalty,  their  ingenuity,  have  in¬ 
variably  been  imposed  upon,  plundered  and  abused 
by  every  one  who  came,  shielding  themselves  with 
the  threat  of  intervention,  occupation,  conquest. 

Elena  de  Montijo,  a  Spaniard,  astute  and  charm¬ 
ing,  caused  the  ruin  of  Napoleon  III,  by  making  him 
believe  that  it  was  possible  to  conquer  Mexico. 
Napoleon  failed  and  paid  the  price  for  his  mistake, 
at  Sedan. 

The  United  States  took  a  large  part  of  Mexican 
territory  by  force  of  arms.  Mexico  lost,  and  the 


United  States  were  wise  to  stop  there  at  that  time, 
for,  had  they  attempted  the  wholesale  conquest  of 
Mexico,  encouraged  by  the  success  of  its  first  at¬ 
tempt,  the  results  might  have  been  disastrous  for 
the  future  of  America. 

Modern  capitalists  and  modern  adventure^rs  of 
all  sorts,  many  of  them  Americans,  obtained  num¬ 
erous  concessions  from  Porfirio  Diaz;  the  majority 
of  those  concessions  CANNOT  bear  the  light  of  day; 
but  the  grantees,  always  thinking  that  inasmuch  as 
the  dictator  gave  them  the  lands,  the  oil,  the  timber, 
the  mines,  the  waters  of  the  rivers,  the  control  of 
certain  commodities  which  the  Mexicans  believe  be¬ 
long  by  right  to  the  people  of  Mexico,  and  which 
right  they  are  absolutely  decided  to  support  and  de¬ 
fend  with  their  lives.  But  those  grantees  boast  that 
such  enormous  wealth,  such  immeasurable  natural 
resources,  ARE  THEIR  PRIVATE  PROPERTY! 

This  Mr.  Editor,  is  the  enormity,  the  lie,  the  as¬ 
tounding  vicious  principle  which  you,  perhaps  un¬ 
consciously,  are  supporting  in  your  warlike  editori¬ 
als.  This  is  the  error  on  which  all  your  reasoning 
is  wrecked. 

This  is  the  far-reaching  propaganda  which  you 
are  endeavoring  to  foster,  by  means  of  your  edi¬ 
torials  in  order  to  convince  this  peaceful,  industri¬ 
ous  people  of  the  United  States  that  it  is  their  duty 
to  fill  their  minds  with  contempt  for  the  unfortun¬ 
ate  but  often  heroic,  and  frequently  abused  people 
of  Mexico. 

How  is  it  that  all  your  culture,  all  your  experience 
and  all  your  ability  as  a  publisher  has  been  of  no 
avail  to  enlighten  you  in  regard  to  the  Mexican  prob¬ 
lem  in  its  manifold  relations  with  your  very  ex¬ 
istence  as  a  nation,  and  to  make  you  appreciate  that 
it  is  more  than  anything  else,  a  psychological  prob¬ 
lem? 


4 


How  is  it  that  you  are  ignorant  of  the  fact  that 
the  United  States  of  America  has  not,  as  yet,  begun 
its  wonderful  task,  its  ONLY  MERITORIOUS  task, 
that  of  becoming  the  moral  leader  and  the  friendly 
teacher  of  all  the  Indo-Latin  peoples  south  of  the 
Rio  Grande? 

These  peoples  have  known  only  your  junkers, 
your  fortune  seekers,  your  slave-drivers,  your  get- 
rich-quick  schemers  of  all  sorts  and  varieties,  many 
of  them  NOT  WANTED  here  because  they  were 
crooked  or  because  they  played  politics  in  the  way 
in  which  your  crooks  usually  play  that  game.  These 
peoples  south  of  the  Rio  Grande,  Mr.  Editor,  know 
very  few  indeed  of  your  upright,  honest,  sound 
business  men;  and  you  can  be  sure,  as  all  of  us 
Mexicans  are,  that  such  men  are  honored  and  re¬ 
spected  there  as  here,  and  that  they  have  always 
been  honored  and  respected  by  the  Mexicans. 

It  is  distressing  that  you  do  not  understand  these 
truths,  and  it  is  appalling  that  you  should  think 
it  easier  to  create  fear  in  the  bosom  of  the  great 
number  of  Mexicans  by  means  of  a  display  of  force, 
than  to  inspire  respect  and  friendship  by  means  of 
the  invaluable  assistance  of  your  good  moral  qual¬ 
ities. 

It  is  sad  that  you  cannot  see  the  facility  with 
which  you  could  protect  the  Mexican  flank  (your 
weak  flank),  with  the  assistance  and  determined 
co-operation  of  millions  of  Mexicans  against  any 
possible  foe;  the  good  will  with  which  your  armies 
would  be  permitted  lo  enter  Mexico  acclaimed  by 
the  Mexican  people  en  masse,  as  the  soldiers  of 
liberty  and  justice,  and  heartily  supported  by  the 
valiant  Mexican  army,  against  any  or  many  Euro¬ 
pean  crowned  heads,  IF  only  you  could  be  cured 
of  your  piteous  blindness;  IF  only  you  knew  some¬ 
thing  about  the  things  of  which  you  are  most  ab¬ 
surdly  ignorant:  MEXICAN  SOCIOLOGY. 


5 


Your  friendship  toward  all  of  the  Indo-Latin  pop¬ 
ulation  of  America  and  not  your  feverish  ambition 
for  the  possession  of  the  natural  resources  of  Mex¬ 
ico  and  South  America,  means  the  salvation  of  Amer¬ 
ica  and  the  EDUCATION  OF  AMERICA. 

Your  tongue  is  almost  tired  of  repeating  those  ap¬ 
parently  very  convincing  words  which  we  hear  you 
utter  every  day,  namely;  bandits,  outlaws,  assassins, 
greasers,  treacherous  chieftains,  etc.  You  use  these 
epithets  to  designate  Mexico  and  her  nationals.  Your 
pride  feels  satisfied  at  the  energy  of  your  contempt; 
your  vanity  rejoices  in  the  conclusiveness  of  the  as¬ 
sertions  which  you  support  with  what  you  consider 
convincing  proofs,  and  you  then  permit  the  weight 
of  your  haughty  judgment  to  crush  a  people  whom 
you  consider  helpless  and  destitute  of  hope. 

You  say  PEON  and  the  rictus  of  your  mouth  is  the 
same  which  distorted  the  face  of  the  Spaniard  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  who  considered  himself  as  the 
divinely  appointed  master  of  the  Indian. 

You  say  AMERICAN  PROPERTY,  and  the  nasal 
sound  of  these  imperious  words  seems  to  invite  the 
swelling  of  chests  and  to  lead  autoimatically  to  think 
of  guns  and  dreadnoughts.  You  say  MEXICAN 
PEOPLE,  and  all  the  mistakes  and  misery  of  this 
groping  human  nature  of  ours  appear  enlarged  be¬ 
fore  your  eyes,  which  contract  with  an  expression 
of  unutterable  contempt. 

Still,  there  is  hardly  an  American  who  has  lived  in 
Mexico,  even  during  this  difficult  period,  who  is 
blind  and  prejudiced  and  ignorant  enough  to  deny 
that  he  has  been  charmed  by  the  beauty  and  gentle¬ 
ness  and  unquestionable  mental  values  of  the  Mexi¬ 
can  people  as  a  whole,  since  the  first  moments  of 
his  visit  in  that  republic. 

It  takes  but  a  few  minutes  for  a  well-meaning 
American  and  a  Mexican  to  talk  to  each  other  and 
to  become  very  good  friends. 


6 


There  are  friendships  between  Mexicans  and  Am¬ 
ericans  which  have  lasted  a  lifetime.  At  the  present 
time,  there  are  Americans  by  the  score  who  will  not 
leave  Mexico,  and  who  have  nothing  to  fear  from 
the  Mexicans,  because  those  Americans  CAN  UN¬ 
DERSTAND. 

The  Mexican  social  revolution  against  the  brutal¬ 
ity  of  the  Catholic  church,  against  the  injustice  of 
special  privileges,  and  of  foreign  monopolies,  is  a 
revolution  that  no  human  power  can  stop.  The  vio¬ 
lence  employed  and  the  atrocities  committed  are  no 
more  grievous  than  those  committed  by  any  other 
liberty-seeking  people  upon  this  earth,  and  looking 
at  it  from  an  impartial  point  of  view,  it  is  an  amaz¬ 
ing  fact  that  in  the  midst  of  the  absolute  disorgani¬ 
zation  which  followed  the  downfall  of  Huerta  and 
the  rebellion  of  Villa  against  Carranza,  a  govern¬ 
ment  could  be  evolved  and  all  the  services  of  civi¬ 
lized  life  be  quickly  set  afoot. 

You  seem  unaware  of  the  fact  that,  during  the 
darkest  and  most  afflictive  stages  of  the  struggle, 
when  different  factions  were  contending,  when  the 
most  absolute  financial  depression  embarrassed  the 
whole  of  our  national  life,  the  plans  for  the  reform 
of  the  public  schools  of  the  country  were  formed  and 
carried  out  successfully. 

You  DO  NOT  KNOW  that  to-day  there  are 
TWENTY  TIMES  as  many  SCHOOLS  in  Mexico  as 
there  were  in  the  times  of  the  dictator,  Porfirio  Diaz. 

You  never  refer  to  the  tremendous  difficulties  that 
the  Mexican  people  have  overcome  in  order  to  force 
the  old  aristocrat,  and  the  old,  grouchy,  libidinous, 
fanatic  “hacendado”  into  the  necessity  of  working 
with  his  own  hands,  in  order  to  merit  the  respect  of 
his  former  slaves,  to  whom  he  can  shout  his  orders 
no  longer,  and  whose  daughters  he  no  longer  can 
ruin  without  facing  trial. 

I  say  to  you,  Mr.  Editor,  of  the  Tribune:  You  know 


nothing  about  Mexico,  and  the  contempt  with  which 
you  express  yourself  in  regard  to  the  right  to  inde¬ 
pendence  of  that  nation,  is  positivelj^  disappointing. 

Mr.  Hearst  has  succeeded  in  making  his  name 
honestly,  openly  and  heartily  hated  throughout 
Mexico.  The  rich  and  the  poor,  the  ignorant  and 
the  educated,  the  big  and  the  small,  ALL  OF  THEM, 
know  Mr.  Hearst  as  the  most  noisy,  extravagant  and 
gasconesque  of  American  junkers. 

You  have  started  with  a  firm  step  to  walk  in  Mr. 
Hearsf  s  path,  and  that  is  your  own  sacred  privilege. 
But  allow  me  to  tell  you  that  there  will  be  no  such 
a  thing  as  the  conquest  of  Mexico  by  the  American 
people,  because  the  great  majority  of  the  American 
people  has  nothing  in  common  with  the  Wall  Street 
money  fiends;  because  tlie  American  people,  as  I 
have  been  able  to  observe  during  the  many  years 
it  has  been  my  privilege  to  live  among  them,  is  a 
people  which  loves  justice,  despite  the  fact  that  the 
modern  fever  for  accumulating  wealth  possesses 
the  whole  nation  and  despite  the  fact  that  the  spirit 
of  gain  which  also  has  attacked  you  and  me — per¬ 
meates  the  most  praiseworthy  endeavors  of  this 
country  and  many  European  nations,  equally  well- 
intentioned. 

I  know  that  the  American  people  is  confronted  at 
the  present  time  by  problems  almost  as  tremendous 
and  baffling  as  those  which  the  Mexican  people  is 
trying  to  solve. 

I  know  that  at  the  bottom  of  the  popular  feeling 
in  these  two  nations,  there  exists  that  huiman  quality 
of  sympathy  which  will  survive  all  the  efforts  to 
smother  it  made  by  the  junkers,  those  odious  traf¬ 
fickers  on  international  hatreds. 

And  I  know  that  the  Mexican  people  is  unconquer¬ 
able,  because  the  Mexican  people  forms  one  of  the 
most  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  nations  of  the 
world.  M.  DEL  Carpio. 


8 


